The American Farm Bureau lobbies to protect the status quo, and its own interests.

Industrial farming encourages practices that degrade the soil and increase emissions, while leaving farmers more vulnerable to damage as the planet warms.

By Georgina Gustin

Jan 25, 2019

ABOUT THIS SERIES

Farmers are on the frontline of climate change, at the mercy of worsening extreme weather. Farms also contribute to the problem. And they could help solve it—through practices that could store billions of tons of carbon in the soil while boosting farm profits. A transformation of America's farm economy would be as profound as the revolution in the energy economy.

So why hasn't this started to happen?

In this series of articles, InsideClimate News examines the influence of the nation's largest farm lobby, the American Farm Bureau Federation. For two decades, the Farm Bureau has worked to defeat treaties and regulations to slow global warming, to deny the science in tandem with fossil fuel interests, and to defend business as usual, putting at risk the very farmers it represents.